Ireland's Munros - an outline for Furth-baggers

Ireland boasts 13 delectable Furth Munros - a Furth being a mountain outside, or ‘furth’ Scotland but high enough to have been a proper Munro were it lucky enough to reside within Scotland. See Dave Hewitt’s account of the history of this term here; broad discussion here.

Based on my visit earlier this week, this post aims to help the Furth-bagger with the summary logistics, a taste of the routes, and pointers to detailed route descriptions as they are not included here.

My favourite Irish Furths are Brandon Mountain with its commanding views over the sinuous and convoluted coastline of Dingle; and the 10 summits spiking along the sometimes knife-edged ridgeline of Macgillycuddy’s Reeks (a ridge that invites you to risk traversing its full length in one go despite the fact that the preferred 10 hours of visibility does not fit into the 8 hours of sun up in early winter).

The Faha Ridge en route to Brandon Mountain:

How the British Isles were created

This animation shows how the British Isles were created from the collision of two entirely separate tectonic plates, and how Scotland itself was assembled from a jigsaw of many pieces.

The Call of the Mountains - Book launch - Waterstones, Piccadilly - Oct 2013

Thank you one and all for coming along and packing out Europe's largest bookshop! The video is on the Youtube channel here:

The Call of the Mountains - Book launch - Waterstones, Piccadilly - Oct 2013

The Call of the Wild

When the rain pelts the flysheet, what better than to slot in the ear-plugs and listen to a book by the likes of adventurer, gambler, and raconteur Jack London. 

Pilgrimage to the Delectable Mountains

Flicking through The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan the other day, I was reminded of how he introduces us to the Delectable Mountains. These are havens of rest for pilgrims en route to the Celestial City. From House Beautiful, the pilgrims are shown “a most pleasant Mountainous Country, beautified with Woods, Vineyards, Fruits of all sorts; Flowers also, with Springs and Fountains, very delectable to behold."

Above the Aletsch Glacier

This summer, I hiked with a friend across Switzerland via the Alpine Pass Route. A later posting will talk about that. But we added on a day at the end, which I recommend highly: a trip up above the Aletsch Glacier.

Back online ...

Too much walking and kayaking, and not enough blogging! It's been quite a year so far: Patagonia in March, the Cape Wrath Trail in May, Corsica's GR20 in June, and preparations for Switzerland's Alpine Pass Route in August.

I'll provide a post on each of these shortly, but one of the memorable experiences has been dipping my toe in the water: kayaking off Scotland's West Coast with http://www.wildernessscotland.com /adventures.php?tripID=141 ... A great way to see the Cuillin from a new angle.